Red Japanese Maple

Japanese Maple
Acer palmatum 'Shindeshojo'
(AY-ser) (pahl-MAY-tum)
Click Here for a Larger Version

Every spring I try and capture some of the glory of the emerging new growth on the japans Maples at the Estate. This year they came out so fast that there wasn’t time to do a comprehensive study. This cultivar is not a great tree if you are going to have just a few Japanese Maples. It is a weak grower that can form an ungainly specimen if left to its own devices. For a week or two during the spring it has an amazing red color and that is its best time. The summer brings on more of a green-pink color with some red new growth. Fall color is good but not like the spring. 'Shindeshojo' is what I consider a medium sized Japanese Maple. It has grown to about 8 feet tall in 15 years and seems to be spreading out a little now. There have been several winters where it got pretty bad winter snow damage.

Fernleaf Full Moon Maple Fall Color

Fernleaf Full Moon Maple
Acer japonicum 'Aconitifolium'
(AY-ser) (juh-PON-ih-kum)

This tree is a handsome addition to any garden. It grows to about 20 feet tall with an equal spread. It can be kept smaller if the need be. The fall color is often a dazzling mixture of orange, red and yellow. With a hardiness zone rating of 5 (USDA) it can withstand quite cold winters. This tree should be more widely cultivated but you sometimes have to hunt for it at nurseries.

This second shot is the fall color on a ‘regular’ Japanese Maple, Acer palmatum. There were a few of these in the garden that looked like someone had plugged them into an electrical outlet they were glowing so red.


For gardeners in Connecticut beware that there are still ticks in the garden. I have been bitten twice in the last week and am currently taking the Doxycycline treatment for 28 days as a precaution against lyme disease. That makes a total of five bites this year. Cleaning up the leaves has been the culprit but it is impossible to know exactly where they came from.

Three Black and Whites

Three Black and Whites
Today’s Flowers

It is turning out to be quite garden touring weekend for me. Yesterday I visited both Bailey Arboretum and Planting Fields Arboretum in Long Island, New York. Today we are going to the Garden Conservancy’s Open Day at Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring, NY. The Long Island gardens were in great shape. All the rain and cool temperatures had everything looking lush and a shade of green that the usual hot and dry summers out there have failed to produce the last few years.

These pictures were all shot with the D700 and the 105mm VR lens on the Monochrome setting. That seems to work out better for me than converting color shots. I feel that I am finally really getting the hang of the D700’s dynamic 51-point auto focus system. Using the other controls (and there are a lot of them) is starting to come more naturally, also. I still love my D70s camera but the D700 is ending up out of the camera bag more and more.

The first shot is a Garden Phlox from Planting Fields. The Dahlia Garden there was really just starting to come into its own and the Daylily collection was just past peak bloom but still had a lot of flowers. The Main Greenhouse provided a blast of color and looked really healthy.

This picture is from Bailey Arboretum. Everything is a bit overgrown there but there are few nice display gardens and a lot of nice old specimens of trees. I kept finding huge dwarf evergreens tucked into the garden here and there and that is always a delight for me. The woods and paths at this park are pretty amazing and if you go don’t be afraid to do a little bushwhacking.

Here is a little contrast between the Black and white Daylily flower and the color shot. Both are the same flower. It was in the Planting Field’s Daylily collection (which is small but mighty) and it didn’t, unfortunately, have a sign.



For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.

Japanese Maple Foliage

Japanese Maple
Acer palmatum 'Trompenburg'
(AY-ser) (pahl-MAY-tum)

This is an interesting Japanese Maple. The partially rolled leaves really give it a unique appearance. I planted two of these several years ago in two different gardens. In one garden the tree was almost completely eaten by the deer and has been trying to come back. The other tree has turned into a very handsome specimen. It is about 9 feet tall and would be a lot wider if it had more room to grow.

This tree is named after The Trompenburg Arboretum in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It grows up to 20 feet tall with a wide spread. The purple/red leaf color is superb and holds up well throughout the summer. Fall color is a bright crimson and is worthy of note.

Dwarf Japanese Maple Spring Foliage

Dwarf Japanese Maple Spring Foliage
Acer palmatum 'Kiyohime'
(AY-ser) (pahl-MAY-tum)

More Pictures from Kiku 2008

More Pictures from Kiku 2008
The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum:
A Flower Show and Art Exhibition



Here are 6 more photos from the Kiku exhibit at the NYBG. These first two are close ups of a Ozukuri or Thousand Bloom Chrysanthemum. There are actually 229 separate flowers from a single plant. They are amazing just from the size of the flowers and the stature of the plant. I wish I had concentrated more on getting a picture of the whole plant (and the big picture of the cascade mums). I am posting them just to give you an idea of how they looked. The yellow one is called ‘Sun Below the Moon’, the pink one ‘Friendship’ and the white one ‘Moon Below the Mountain’.

Thousand bloom Chrysanthemum

Cascade Mums

We have been planting a lot of bulbs and I just made a list for one house we have been working on:

500 Muscari (Mixed Species, blue, white and light blue)
400 Camassia
400 Darwin Tulips ‘Apeldoorn’ (Red)
200 Darwin Tulips ‘Golden Apeldoorn’ (Yellow)
200 Darwin Tulips ‘Holland’s Glory’ (Red)
100 Darwin Tulips ‘Rainbow Warrior’ (Yellow, red edge)
100 Mixed Early Tulips (Pink and Black)
300 Single Early Tulips ‘Apricot Beauty’
100 Tulipa greigii 'Red Riding Hood'
400 Trumpet Narcissus ‘Dutch Master’ (Yellow)
100 Narcissus ‘Ice Follies’ (White with shallow yellow cup)
100 Trumpet Daffodils ‘Fortissimo’ (Yellow with dark orange cup)
200 Miniature Species Daffodils ‘Golden Bells’
60 Exhibition Size Hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis)
60 “Gladiator’ Allium
50 Trumpet Narcissus ‘Las Vegas’ (White with yellow cup)
50 Narcissus ‘Ice King’ (Double flowers)
50 Double Daffodil ‘Tahiti’ (bright yellow with orange)
50 Split-cupped Narcissus ‘Orangery’
50 Butterfly Narcissus ‘Cassata’
50 Miniature Daffodils ‘Jack Snipe’
50 Miniature Daffodils ‘Minnow’
32 Narcissus ‘Yellow River’ (New Cultivar)
25 Dwarf Asiatic Lily “Buff Pixie’
25 Tiger Lillies ‘Salmon Twinkle’ (Tigrimun splendens)
10 Species Lily ‘Black Beauty’
10 Species Lily ‘Citronella’
10 Orienpet Lily ‘Orania’

You can see how most of day is taken up. We have also planted several hundred bulbs at other houses. I wanted to type this list up for the customer and there are a few more items I have to add. I always buy my bulbs from several sources and I have used 4 already this year. All the work will be worth it when I am snapping pictures of all the flowers.


Another Japanese Maple from the show. This is a green dissected leaf cultivar called ‘Viridis’ (Acer palmatum dissectum 'Viridis'). I have had some problems with this tree before but they usually straighten out. I like growing them since they do well in shade. They don’t get color like this one, though.

Kiku 2008 at the New York Botanical Garden

Kiku 2008 at the New York Botanical Garden
The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum

This is going to have to be a two-part post. This is the second year I went to the show and it is much better this year. The exhibit opened on October 18th and the flowers still looked fresh and gorgeous last weekend. There were more flowers and types this year. I think the cascade style mums (kengai) were my favorite. They are something that, for me, is easier to relate to. The big mums are amazing but the mums that the cascades are made up of are more like something I would try and grow. This first purple mum is one of the cascade mums.

The next flowers are from the ogiku or single stem style. That was the style that I posted yesterday for Wordless Wednesday. The flowers really have a royal feel to them and the color arrangement was stunning. They are meant to be viewed from the front so all the colors line up correctly.


The collection of Japanese Maples was great. Many were, like the ones at work yesterday, at the peak of their fall color. From experience the Japanese Maples get very intense color (more so than the regular fall color) a couple of days before all the leaves fall off. Some of the Maples at Kiku were at this point. Which is unbelievable stunning to me. There was a good assortment of Japanese Maples including some I hadn’t seen before.


The show was definitely worth going to and since I am due a couple more member tickets I may go again. There is a nighttime showing of the Chrysanthemums on November 7th and 14th called Kiku and Cocktails.

'Orange Dream' Japanese Maple

Japanese Maple
Acer palmatum 'Orange Dream'
(AY-ser) (pahl-MAY-tum)

This is a relatively new Japanese Maple cultivar. It is quite striking both when the foliage emerges and in the fall. Its foliage is a nice lime green during the summer. It grows to about 15 feet and has green bark. The bark is nice as it is a contrast to the foliage. I have noticed some variation in the emerging color. This one was particularly yellow with a pronounced red stripe on the end of the leaves but I have also seen specimens that emerge more orange.

This was a nice group of Daffodils I saw yesterday. Their color kind of matched the ‘Orange Dream’. I was lucky to get about 10 or 12 good pictures yesterday. I don’t think I will have the camera out today as 1 to 2 inches of rain is expected here. We certainly need it, as everything was really getting dry. I have a couple of appointments and can finish my paperwork today.

Pot Marigold

Pot Marigold
Calendula officinalis 'Kablouna Mix'
(ka-LEN-dew-luh) (oh-fiss-ih-NAH-liss)
Synonym: English Marigold

This beautiful flower came from a packet of seed I sowed last spring. I just prepared the ground and put the seed out and it produced an interesting mix of colors. Calendula is actually an edible flower that the petals can also be used for skin ointments. Medicinal uses for this Mediterranean native date back to the 12th century. It is a cool season annual that benefits from being cut back in hot weather.

I have been going through old pictures on my hard drive in preparation for making some back up disks and have been copying the files on to another external hard disk. All you photographers please don’t put his off too long! I actually lost the original files from all the pictures I took in 2004 and 2005 because my external HD failed and when I went to use my back up DVDs they were blank. Since then I have put a new system in place for backups. Over the next couple of days I will backing up all the photos I took last year (most are done) and will be featuring some of the extra flowers that I find.


This white Clematis is trained to grow up a Japanese Maple seedling that I got at the Bartlett Arboretum plant sale a few years ago. I find that small trees and shrubs can offer a good support for the vines to grow. I like how the flowers stand out against the green Maple foliage. It seems to keep the deer from eating the Clematis, also. Plus you will probably be the only one on your block with a 'Flowering' Japanese Maple

Japanese Maple and White Birch

Japanese Maple and White Birch

Since I was a little bored, and I got some new Photoshop plugins, I decided to play around a bit. Normally I try and keep any adjustments in PS to a minimum and really try to take the photo ‘in the camera’ with the correct composition and exposure. It is fun to use the massive editing power of Photoshop sometimes. I really don’t have any set work-flow, I just keep trying things until it looks right.

This picture was taken with the 50mm/1.8 lens in my backyard on Thanksgiving Day. The Maple is in my neighbor’s yard and it turned the most stunning color. He just cleared some trees from around it and in the six years I had been living here I hadn’t noticed it. It was hard to miss this year. November 22nd is a little later than most Japanese Maples usual fall color timing. It sure was a strange and extended autumn. The White Birch is in my yard and is quite a distance from the Maple. I thought the contrast between the two was nice. A day or two later when I looked out the fading sun on the two was even more beautiful.


This second photo didn’t turn out the way I wanted and also underwent heavy editing in Photoshop. The process is called selective color and it sometimes works out. On this one there was heavy glare from the glass in front of the bird, which caused some noise and faded color. This Toco Toucan (Ramphastos toco) was at the Bronx Zoo’s World of Birds and seemed quite curious of both my camera and I. It’s native to parts of South America and is not a threatened species. It is one of my favorite tropical birds.

Golden Groundsel

Golden Groundsel
Packera obovata
(PAK-er-uh) (ob-oh-VAY-tuh)
Synonyms: Senecio obovatus, Roundleaf Ragwort

I am glad I looked up this plant up before posting as I have always called it Senecio. A little warning on this plant is that it spreads rapidly, almost a little too much so. I have been corralling it right from the start and have enjoyed the cultivation of this groundcover. I haven’t propagated any in the last couple of years but previously I dug up some of the edges and planted them in some very inhospitable places and the funny thing was this plant loved it. In one spot I planted it in rocks and a few really big Oak trees and while that slowed its spread down a little it has done nicely (it is in pretty heavy shade). I was very happy to have something growing in that area. They also are growing in a very moist area that gets wet when the water table is high. That is the patch these pictures are from.


Groundsel blooms in the spring as these pictures were taken in Mid-May. I usually cut the flower stalks off after they are done blooming to tidy it up. It is hardy to USDA Zone 4 and is semi-evergreen in warmer climes. The Japanese Maple is supposed to be ‘Crimson Queen’ but it seems a little nicer then that. I bought three of them at a nursery that was going out of business. I wanted some low grafted trees and they had them out in a field. The idea was to make them into a groundcover type and I have been fairly successful as the trees are now about 1.5 feet tall and 5 to 6 feet wide. You can see the Groundsel actually grew up through the Maple and bloomed, it has since been removed from underneath.


I am posting this picture because although I shot the Groundsel pictures in May and forgot about them I was attracted to this combination I saw at the NYBG in October. It is an Acer palmatum 'Tamukeyama' with what I think is the yellow leaved form of Licorice Plant (Helichrysum petiolare’). . 'Tamukeyama' has been in cultivation since 1710 and is considered one of the oldest cultivars of Japanese Maple. Many experts consider it to be one of the most sun resistant and best at holding its deep leaf color throughout the season.

More Japanese Maples

More Japanese Maples

Since the Japanese Maples seem to be popular I thought I would post a couple of more that I shot on Friday. I have been calling this tree ‘Octopus’ for about 15 years now. I am sure that is the way it was sold. However research on the internet seems to point to ‘Octopus’ to being a red leafed cultivar. Oh boy. It seems to have some of the characteristics of ‘Octopus’, as it has very deeply dissected leaves and is short with a lot of congested branching. I will have to post these over at the UBC forums to see if anyone knows what this tree actually is. It is a nice tree no matter what is called. It was fairly big when I planted it and between the deer eating it and pruning it is about 3.5 feet tall and has a spread of about 7-8 feet. It has a large caliper, the trunk is about 6 inches across at the base. Like a lot of the green leafed JMs it gets an orange/yellow fall color. This tree is in at least half shade so I don’t think it colors as well as it would in full sun.


'Red Pygmy' Strap Leaved Japanese Maple (Acer Palmatum 'Red Pygmy')

This next one is ‘Red Pygmy’ and it seems to be a dwarf. This is planted right next to a stream and it seems to like it. The leaves are strap like and turn this bronzy color in the fall. It holds on to its red color well into the summer.

Since I posted a picture of Ruby the Border Collie a couple of weeks ago I thought I would post a picture of my other dog. This is Molly. She is a 12 year old pure bred Siberian Husky. Both of her parents were red colored, so while she is mostly white and black this time of year she gets some red highlights. She is looking a little sad as she has figured out she isn’t going to work. This dog lives to go to work and she is friends with the other dogs on the Estate. She is still young at heart and doesn't act her age.

Wordless Wednesday - Saturday Edition

Wordless Wednesday - Saturday Edition
Coral Bark Japanese Maple
Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku'

Fernleaf Fullmoon Maple

Fernleaf Fullmoon Maple
Acer japonicum ‘Aconitifolium’
(AY-ser) (juh-PON-ih-kum)
Synonyms: Maiku jaku, Downy Japanese Maple, ハウチワカエデ

Since I have been enjoying all the Japanese Maples at work and posted on other blogs, like Ki’s, I thought I would share one of my favorite trees. The term Japanese Maples is usually applied to Acer palmatum but this tree is actually a species (different second name) Acer japonicum and it is a cultivar of that species ‘Aconitifolium’. Other cultivars of this tree include 'Vitifolium' and ‘Green Cascade’. It is a wonderful small stature tree that can grow in partial shade (should be in hot climates) and is hardy to USDA Zone 5. The species was introduced to the United States in 1864. Golden Fullmoon Maple is actually a different species A. shirasawanum. I did a post on that tree here.

A good way to tell the difference between Acer palmatum and A. japonicum is the amount of lobes on the leaf. The palmatum types usually have seven or less lobes and japonicum has 9 to 13 lobes. Sorry if all those species are confusing it kind of breaks down like this.

Acer palmatum and Acer japonicum are both species of Maple. They are both commonly referred to as Japanese Maples. The species of A. japonicum further breaks down into cultivars of Fernleaf (‘Aconitifolium’), Grape-leaved 'Vitifolium' and Weeping (‘Green Cascade’).


The Estate has two specimens of Fernleaf Fullmoon Maple. One is planted in a shady location and the other is in full sun. These pictures are from the sunny one. The one in shade grows a bit sparser and slower and gets more of a yellowy fall color. It is still beautiful. Most of the trees at work are tagged as to what they are, where they bought and how big and when they were planted. This one was bought at Imperial Nurseries, came in a 15 gallon container and was planted in the summer of 2000. As I remember it was about 5 feet tall and had a spread of about 4 feet. In the last seven years it has grown to about 8 feet tall and is about 12 feet wide. Its final height is supposed to be 10-12 feet tall and 15 feet wide but I have seen larger ones. The flowers in the spring and the emerging foliage (sometimes with a touch of pink) are beautiful as are the large green leaves in the summer. The real show starts in the fall with the change to orange, yellow and red leaves. The autumn show lasts quite a while and after the leaves fall off the winter outline isn’t bad looking. So it is really a tree that has three strong seasons.

The first picture was shot with the 60mm/2.8 Micro-Nikkor and on the second ahot I used the 50mm/1.8 Nikon lens.

A Few Images From Skylands

A Few Images From Skylands
The New Jersey State Botanical Garden

Yesterday’s drive ended up taking me over to Skylands, the New Jersey State Botanical Garden. I had been there quite a few years ago and I vaguely remembered how nice it was. Sure it would have been better to be there a week or two ago but there was still plenty of things to see including a lot of foliage. It is a large collection of trees, perennials, shrubs and it looked like during the season annuals.
Persian Parrottia (Parrotia persica) in full fall color.

The weather was really crummy as there were a few spots of the snow left over from the night before. Cloudy, chilly (cold, actually) and windy were the key weather words for our visit. The sky was a flat gray rendering any pictures with it pretty much useless. I did have a pretty good day with the camera despite the sky and wind and I will be posting some of the photos this week. I was able to snag my ABC Wednesday picture for this week’s ‘Q’ post. I was worried about that because it isn’t really an easy letter. Today’s post is about yellow fall foliage, I guess, it was an unintended theme.
One of many paths leading to heavily wooded areas.

The sun did start to peak out as evidenced in the first picture but only after we started to drive out of the parking lot. That one was shot on the entrance road. We spent about 3.5 hours looking around and saw some really beautiful foliage and evergreens.

I wanted to go out and get a few photos today but it is pretty windy here today. It is also kind of cold. It seems like the wind is dying down a bit so I might go out after all.
Unnamed Japanese Maple, very effective against a backdrop of Taxus.

Fallen Fall Foliage ~ Part 2

Fallen Fall Foliage ~ Part 2

We are off on a drive to try and find the last vestiges of our fall season. I took these pictures at work on Thursday. The first pictures are the fallen leaves of the Weeping Katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum var. magnificum 'Pendula'). It is a beautiful tree that has grown into a graceful specimen. It has actually gotten fairly huge, probably about 40 feet tall.


This is a shot of the leaves on the ground with what I call the ‘Twins’ in the background (you can only see one of them the other one is to the right). These aren’t the ones but I actually did plant two Japanese Maples for a pair of twins that a customer had. They plant a tree each time a child is born (three so far). These trees ‘Red Foliage Selections’ (Acer palmatum) from Weston Nurseries. They have gotten a lot bigger over time also. They were planted in 1998 and I have been pruning the tops to keep them shorter. The nice thing about these is they hold their color during the season. They also have nice fall color (just starting) and a really dark twig color.


This final picture is a leaf covered walk by the River Birch Grove. As you can see I have got a lot of clean up work to do. We dodged a weather bullet last night as it got down to 33 degrees F. while it was raining. I saw some snow showers yesterday and thought it was going to snow last night. Nothing is worse than snow when a lot of the leaves are still on the trees. That has happened here before with devastating results. The snow piles up on the leaves and then the branches break. The sun is out now and the trend is for warmer temperatures. The pictures of the last two days have been shot with the 50mm/1.8 lens, I am loving it.

Fallen Fall Foliage

Fall leaves of the Maidenhair Tree (Ginkgo biloba)


It has been a strange foliage season here in Connecticut. The timing just doesn’t seem to be following our normal routine. A lot of the leaves just turned brown and fell off and some other trees are more beautiful than ever. While walking around the Estate yesterday I was struck by how beautiful some the fallen leaves looked. I knew I had missed the Ginkgo Tree by a matter of a day or two because of the several inches of leaves that completely covered the area underneath it. The Ginkgo gets beautiful yellow color and after a few days almost every leaf falls off the tree at once.


These are from one of my favorite trees in the garden. There are actually two specimens of Fernleaf Fullmoon Japanese Maple (Acer japonicum 'Aconitifolium') growing but since this one is in full sun it gets better color. That is a big name but it is a tree that is big on attributes. I will have a post that deals with this tree in a couple of days.

I bought a new electronic keyboard and have been practicing a lot. It replaced some really old keyboards that I had. It is a miracle how far these things have come since the 10 years that my last one was built. I am thinking of trying to join a band so I am trying to learn some new songs. I am scraping the rust off. I don’t really have to practice a lot of guitar as that comes a bit more naturally to me and I have been doing some of that all along. Forgive me if the upcoming posts are a little brief, you will know that I am practicing. A friend gave me a live CD of The Band and I have decided to try and figure out every song it.

'Sango Kaku' Coral Bark Japanese Maple

Coral Bark Japanese Maple
Acer palmatum ‘Sango Kaku’
(AY-ser) (pahl-MAY-tum)
Synonym: Senkaki

Once I saw the light slanting down on the Coral Bark it was time for a picture! I love this little tree and usually plant one or a group in every garden I design. It has a small stature (in this area) for a Japanese Maple and grows in shade, although the twig color appears better in sun. I wouldn’t call it dwarf but it isn’t full size either, it certainly seems to be a semi-slow grower. The lime green foliage is a nice contrast during the spring and summer but the real show starts when the leaves turn bright yellow in the fall. The fall color is very persistent and then seems to drop off all at once to reveal the second show of the coral red twigs and branches for the winter. The branch color does fade a little after the wood ages after several years but it is still very attractive.

I grow several cultivars of Coral Bark Japanese Maple but I think ‘Sango Kaku’ is still my favorite. It is most often available at a reasonable price and more and more nurseries seem to be carrying it. This particular tree has been planted for about 12 years and it is about 12 feet tall with an equal spread. It was planted in heavy shade but a few years ago we had to remove some the trees and branches that were shading it and it literally exploded with growth. It didn’t get much taller, just much thicker and more graceful.

I strongly recommend this tree.

Here is a link to World Plants.com, which shows some of the other Coral Bark Japanese Maples available.
world plants.com/coral bark

More 50mm/1.8 Photos

Here are some more shots from the 50mm/1.8. In some ways I against having too many lenses in your bag as it complicates things. I start thinking well if I only had this lens or that lens. Basically you need to have a couple of good lenses and a pretty good camera to get good shots.


The first picture greeted as I walked out the door yesterday morning. Too bad the day didn’t live up to this sunrise. It was just one of those days where a lot of little things kept me from getting done what I wanted. I did get the sprinkler system blown out but it took all day. I did manage to walk around and get a few pictures. This is a native tree from the Estate. Pretty good color for a seedling.


I read on Ki’s blog that his ‘Beni Kawa’ Japanese Maple was in fall color already and many of his other Maples hadn’t changed yet. So of course I had to check my specimen and sure enough it was coloring up. There are some other Coral Bark Maples planted near this one (‘Japanese Sunrise’ and ‘Sango Kaku’) and they haven’t started yet either. You can actually just see the tips of ‘Sango Kaku’ coming into the picture on the left. One thing I have noticed about Coral Barks is they do hold their fall color for a long time. Anyway I thought it was interesting that both of the ‘Beni Kawa’s were turning already and I think it maybe a characteristic of the cultivar.


I posted recently I was moving some shrubs that had grown too big and were interfering with the drainage along side the house. Here is a picture of the monster Burning Bush we moved. I put the rake in there for scale. Pretty good for two people, although Karen did help drag it out of the hole. It looked good in its new spot. We moved that big Pieris in the background and a large Redvein Enkianthus (E. campanulatus) and Koreanspice Viburnum (V. carlesii). The stuff had been in for 18 years and I was sick of trying to prune it back. This is not at the estate but another garden I designed and built in New Canaan.